


Dog, Meet Leash

by aegisofthegods



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Amonketh, Angst, Coda, F/M, Hour of Devastation, Ixalan, Memory Loss, feelings are complicated and no one knows how to deal with them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 21:30:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11929665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aegisofthegods/pseuds/aegisofthegods
Summary: Defeated, Liliana flees Amonketh to a safe haven, except it's not what she originally intended it to be.(Hour of Devastation coda)





	Dog, Meet Leash

**Author's Note:**

> i've been brought back to mtg full force send help  
> and also thanks to my partner in crime pugo for helping me write a decent summary
> 
> this takes place directly after the battle against bolas in the last chapter of the hour of devastation story, but it can be read out of context as well :)  
> hope you enjoy!

_No matter what I do_ , Liliana thought as the blur of the Blind Eternities welcomed her into its embrace, _I always end up here._

Liliana barely registered the world reforming itself around her. The sweltering heat persisted, but the sand underneath her feet didn't have nearly as much give as before. Night gave way to morning, and with the sun came humid breeze and the cry of a gull. An endless expanse of blue that seemed to merge with the sky at the horizon. Not desert. _A beach._

She let herself fall to her knees, eyes shut and hands splayed on the sand, none of which were doing anything to stop the tears that kept on falling, now that no one else could see them. The stench of blood still permeated her surroundings.

“Where are we?” a familiar, _too_ familiar voice said behind her. Liliana refused to look at him, refused to give him the _satisfaction_.

“Happy now?” she asked, hands tightening into the sand, uncaring of the grains digging into her still-bleeding etchings.

“That you are actually still alive, defying all odds? Very.” the Raven Man said flatly. “I expected you to planeswalk to Ravnica, though. Where are we?” he asked again.

“Ravnica, obviously.” as Liliana said the words, she knew they weren’t true. She had indeed set out to Ravnica, but apparently the split second of being angry at herself was enough to knock her off-course in the Blind Eternities.

If only the goddamned apparition could leave already, then she could regain enough of her bearings to try again. But of course, that was too much to expect.

“You don’t know either, and you know you don't. You should know better than waste your time trying to lie to me.” The words were harsh but the Raven Man’s tone was very matter-of-fact. Infuriating. There was rustling, probably him looking around, and then it stopped. He scoffed. “Oh, my, I see it now. Sometimes I wonder who’s the dog and who’s holding the leash here.”

And before Liliana could say anything, he disappeared. Her hands fisted into the sand once again, and she screamed, furious. Furious at the Raven Man for existing, furious at Nicol Bolas for getting her in this situation, furious at the Gatewatch for being stupid, and above all, furious at herself for getting so damn _involved._

She felt something move in the ground, a half-formed zombie awakened by her yell. Great.

“Liliana?”

Her head snapped up in the direction of the weak voice. Tears still blurred her vision and she cursed, blinking them away harshly. There, at the bottom of the small dune she stood on, was Jace.

Bleeding, only barely conscious, but alive and trying to get to her.

Jace stood still for a second, then his eyes rolled back and he fell to his knees, clutching his head as a couple droplets of blood trickled out of his ears. Liliana got up, cursing internally at the way her legs wobbled, and made her way to the bunch of cloaks squirming at the foot of the dune. His clothes were dripping wet, which could only mean he had actually planeswalked into the sea.

“How- the others-” he forced out but it was broken by a cough.

“Would you shut up for once in your life?” she grunted, trying to pull his arm over her shoulders. The congealed blood all over her made everything sticky and disgusting and she saw Jace scrunch his nose at the smell. Classic.

Liliana half-dragged, half-pushed Jace over to the shadow of the nearest grouping of palm trees, pushing him to sit down against one of them. He whined a little when his head hit the trunk and his hand scrambled to hold onto something, which happened to be her wrist, and it surprised her how… _not unwelcome_ his touch was. The Raven Man’s parting words suddenly made sense and her expression turned sour, but if Jace noticed it, he paid it no mind. He seemed content enough to just be in the shade.

“After Bolas struck you, he turned to me. He...well. I don’t think the five of us stood a chance, let alone four. I told them all to planeswalk away so we could regroup.”

“And did they?”

 _I hope so_ , she thought. “You all may be dumb but not to that extent.” she said instead. _And not to the extent of ever looking me in the eye again._

Jace scowled, apparently too out of it to push further.

“Where are we?” he asked instead.

“I don’t know, actually.” she answered aloud. In her thoughts, however, her subconscious supplied, _I followed you_. And she grimaced, because it was true. Stupid, but true.

Half-closed azure eyes shot open in surprise.

“Stop poking into my goddamned head” she snarled loudly, pushing Jace away on instinct. Good. Anger was good. Better than that annoying maelstrom of _feelings_.

“I didn’t!” Jace cried out, raising one hand in a feeble attempt to protect himself. “I didn’t, I swear I didn’t! It’s just- Bolas did- I’m still trying to close my own head again, I’m sorry!”

She huffed. The worst part was that he was telling the truth.

She should probably call it a day and planeswalk back to Ravnica, she had already made sure Jace was alive and that was more than enough. Wasn't it?

“Is it true, though?” Jace whispered, and _boy he just couldn’t ever shut his damn mouth-_

“Don’t push your luck, Jace.” Liliana gathered her skirts and started to get up.

“Lili, wait!” he called and grabbed her wrist.

Now, the normal Liliana would have shocked Jace off with a blast of necromantic energy, made a sarcastic remark and walked off. But as much as she hated to admit it, those months with the Gatewatch had started to rub off on her and Jace’s constant presence was just-

Liliana was tired.

So instead, Liliana stilled where she stood. She looked back at the boy. Jace seemed to realize he had made a big mistake, but above all his striking blue eyes held resolution and genuine concern. For her.

One last tear managed to break through her iron grip, rolling down her face slowly as if mocking her, in front of Jace. He gasped.

“Lili, are you c-”

The question would have made it too real, so she shut him up with a kiss.

Kissing Jace always had an undercurrent of static, the mana in their bodies swirling and interacting. Jace gasped again, just a little, the tiniest yet sharp intake of air he always took at the feel of her icy cold lips, just like she remembered, and she savored it.

Jace’s hands scrambled to her shoulders, still clumsy but determined, pulling her down and onto himself. Liliana barely held back a small yelp at her knees hitting the ground, the sound morphing into a satisfied moan as Jace seized the opportunity to deepen the kiss.

She didn’t know how much time passed, refused to count, until Jace finally broke the kiss, panting softly under his breath. She wasn’t at all pleased to realize that she, too, was out of breath.

“Why?” he whispered.

Liliana leaned on one hand and pulled the right one up, cupped his cheek, her fingertips sinking into the shiny dark strands he _never_ combed, now tousled and dirty with sand, sweat and grime. She breathed once, then twice. It was time.

“Because you’re not going to remember any of this.”

Her right hand flashed purple.

Jace fell unconscious, breathing still labored even in sleep. Liliana barely caught him in time to keep his head from bouncing off the trunk, and she laid him down on the patch of grass instead. Three hours, maybe four, probably enough for him to rest if nothing else.

Groaning reached her from the direction of the sea; the zombie from before had finally managed to break out of the ground without her help and was now shambling in her direction. A somewhat fresh corpse, although a good portion of its flesh was missing; probably a sailor, dead on the sea, nibbled on by fish and then whatever was left eventually washed ashore and got buried by the tides. Liliana scrunched her nose.

“You!” she called. The zombie ambled forward faster. She got up, uncaring of the grass and sand that clung to the blood on her skirts. This dress was past any hope of saving, anyway. “Guard him until he wakes up, but do disappear as soon as he does. Dig yourself back into the ground, whatever, as long as he doesn’t see you.”

The zombie grunted and scooted closer to Jace. Good enough.

The air simmered around her and Liliana stepped into the Blind Eternities without looking back.


End file.
